In the morning of January 25, the Israeli army demolished two houses in the Bedouin village of Umm Al Kheer and seized a tractor in the village of Khallet el Mayya.

Israel demolishes a home in Umm al Kheer yesterday, January 25 (photo: Operation Dove)

Around 9:00 AM on Wednesday morning two bulldozers, escorted by military jeeps and the DCO (District Coordinating Office) of the Israeli  army, raided the village of Umm Al Kheer. The two demolished houses weren't under demolition order, although 20 demolition orders were delivered in the last years. The first structure belongs to an elderly couple, and the second to a woman with 9 children.

During the operations the Palestinians, who have tried to hinder the activities interposing between the houses and bulldozers, were pushed away by soldiers. The elderly owner of a house fell ill after being pulled by soldiers. Everything happened while two bulldozers worked to build new habitations in the nearby settlement of Karmel.

After finishing the demolition, the Israeli army went to the Palestinian village of Khallet el Mayya to seize a tractor with trailer used by Palestinian workers to build a house which, last week, received a stop working order from the DCO. During the operation the villagers interposed themselves between the tractor and the DCO. A Palestinian was lying under the trailer to avoid the seize of the vehicle and risked injury and arrest. The DCO dropped the trailer and just took away the tractor.

Umm Al Kheer is a Bedouin village in C Area (under Israeli civil and military administration) built in 1948. It's located close to the Israeli settlement of Karmel established during the beginning of the '80s and expanded in the recent years. The village routinely experiences harassment from Israeli settlers and military.

The policy pursued by Israel in C Area is to prevent the development of Palestinian communities, denying any building permit and demolishing any structure considered "illegal". At the same time, Israeli settlements and outposts in the area, although they are illegal under international law, continue to grow and the settlers can attack Palestinians with impunity.

This policy of restrictions, closure, demolition, evacuation and abuse, combined with continuing violence by settlers in the area, denies the human rights of Palestinians, hindering the possibility to live in their villages and cultivate their lands by preventing development of local communities.